a blog about books and other things that soothe my soul

In Honor of Rosa-Lee

Today is my grandmother’s birthday and the first one that I won’t able to celebrate with her in person. When i think of words to describe my grandma, these are the ones that come to mind: kind, loving, caring, generous, unselfish, special, sweet, giving, beloved. She lit up a room with her smiles and laughs and gave her love to everyone through her hands and her hugs.

She was a hardworking woman her whole life, starting with farming and ending up working at the converse plant. I had an endless supply of converse sneakers as a child. She was the perfect example of a strong, southern women. She went to church every Sunday, wore her pearls, cooked big delicious country meals, put her family first and shelled peas and canned vegetables in the summer. I was the only person in the family who liked to eat corn on the cob and she always froze a few bags of corn on the cob just for me.

She always told me how much she loved me, how much I meant to her, how beautiful I was, how proud she was of me and I knew she meant these things from the bottom of her heart. I can only hope that I said those same things to her enough. I will miss sitting on the couch beside her, holding her hand, laying my head on her shoulder and feeling like the most loved and special person in the world. You could just feel the love coming out of her body.

She was a huge part of my life from the time I was born until she died. She never missed any of the important events in my life and always gave me presents for my birthday and Christmas. She was always so excited to see me and so sad to see me go. There just aren’t words to explain what an amazing and rare person she was in this world. She was always there, a loving shoulder, a helping hand, a ray of sunshine. I can only hope to be half the person that she was and she will forever be my favorite person. There will always be a hole in my heart that no one else could possibly fill. Happy Birthday in heaven, Grandma. I love you.